Letters from the other side of the room
by Carrie Asagiri
Summary: When Anna was a teen what she most wanted was being to talk to Elsa. Knocking on doors wasn't the only way she had to reach her sister.


**Author's Note:** This story was born in tumblr when the Frozen fandom celebrated "Anna's week". This was my collaboration. The first version I published there wasn't revised by a proofreader so it had some mistakes. Now, thanks to my beta reader Cande Raven I've got it revised. Besides being revised it's an extended version of the original one.

©Frozen and all its characters are property of The Walt Disney Company. All the rights reserved.

* * *

Anna had always had the need to express herself loudly and openly. In fact, everything about her had been open and especially loudsince she was born. Perhaps growing up alone, without friends of her age and away from her sister has made her need more evident. When she was a little girl, her sister Elsa meant the whole world for her, even more than her parents.

The two sisters used to share everything: bedroom, toys, books, nanas, games and all the fun. Then, suddenly, Elsa shut her out and she never knew why. So, when you don't know something you try to find it out or at least imagine it. Through the years, Anna tried to figure out the reason and the only thing she could think of was that her sister was mad at her. Anna didn't get all the special attention that Elsa received. Being the heir, Elsa was more important; at least that was Anna thought. She didn't know the truth behind her parents' special treatment toward her sister, and she accepted her role as the spare princess, which truly meant that nobody was paying attention to her.

Being the spare wasn't so bad after all, because it meant she was still a princess and being one is something convenient, especially when it comes to presents. Every birthday Anna received a lot of presents, not only from her family but from other kingdoms too. Mostly people she didn't know at all, but who was she to complain about that? After all, being a princess had its perks and getting several gifts was one of them.

However, when Anna turned thirteen, the present she treasured most was the one she got from her mother. Although she always cherished anything her parents gave her, that time was special. Being aware of her daughter's solitude, the queen gave Anna a stationery set. Writing letters and a journal could be a way to keep Anna busy allowing her to express herself. It was something Queen Idun decided without discussing with her husband. She regretted not being more committed regarding the princesses' education and upbringing. Actually, it was not a lack of commitment from her; it was her role as a woman and as the queen consort. It was expected that she was devoted to her husband's words because he was also the king. She couldn't deny that she didn't completely agree with the way that King Agdar had been handling Elsa's issues. She barely could do anything for Elsa; however, she was still able to do something for Anna.

Anna didn't have any friends to exchange letters with, and following her mother's advice about writing to the princesses from the neighboring kingdoms felt a little bit awkward even for her. What she had really wanted since she had memory was to talk with Elsa. Let her know about her adventures around the castle, tell her about the ridings with her pony and the handsome boy who take care of it, ask her about the kind of stuff only an older sister can answer. So, for Anna, having a stationery set to write was the equivalent of having another way to approach her secluded sister.

Knocking on Elsa's door was overdue, even so, Anna never gave up and she kept trying for a while. Who knows? Maybe someday Elsa would decide that being isolated in her room was overdue too. Anyway, writing a letter was something totally new, even when it felt kind of weird because they were living under the same roof and their rooms were next door.

Anna's first letter was about her birthday presents and the amount of chocolate she ate that day. She described the details of the cake, the postcards she received and the special gift her mother gave her. That night, once she finished the writing, she escaped from her room for a minute and slipped the envelope under her sister's door.

The most part of the next day she was anxiously waiting for a reply or at least a signal, but nothing happened. That very night she slipped another letter; this time was about her pony and how much she wanted a big horse too, but her father had told her to wait for a while when she would be a little bit older. She complained that she was already old enough and riding a pony was for little girls; besides she was a very mature princess and she needed a horse in order to impress the stable boy who happened to be so handsome. Elsa didn't reply either and Anna started feeling disappointed. But that wasn't an excuse for her to give up. So, maybe Elsa wasn't interested in horses and birthday's presents or stable boys, and maybe it would be a good idea asks her about what she did or how she felt instead of only telling her things.

Anna decided to write a longer letter, but this time besides talking about herself, she showed a genuine interest in Elsa's concerns. The real problem was that Anna didn't know so much about her sister's likes or hobbies because they barely talked. Crossing paths in the corridor or sharing meals with their parents wasn't enough to share what they liked or to get know her. Sadly, all the answers Anna wrote never received a reply either.

Elsa's silence was cold and sharp as her ice power. Anna was unaware of the reason behind that silence or her sister having any power at all.

After a month of writing letters without getting any reply, one morning Anna saw an envelope under the door of her room. In the beginning she was skeptical; it couldn't be possible Elsa had replied to her letters after all that time. But seriously, who on earth besides her sister could be sending her a letter to her room? Anna took the envelope and opened it; there was a folded piece of paper inside. Once she unfolded it, she found a drawing of a snowman made with ink. It was the same snowman they built when they were little girls. What was his name? Olaf? The little guy was surrounded by an inscription in runes that she couldn't read. Biting her lower lip, Anna stared at the drawing for a while. She was wondering what her sister was trying to tell her. At least, Elsa wasn't upset with her, so maybe she could keep writing her letters. And so she did it. And Elsa replied to them sporadically with drawings of snowmen, snowflakes or crocus flowers. Anna knew that those pictures meant something more, even when she wasn't smart enough to guess it.

One day, Anna decided to try decipher the runes in Elsa's letters. She regretted not having paid attention in her tutor's class, otherwise she wouldn't have to look up the runes in the old books in her father's office. Entering the king's office with the king being absent was a big adventure, even if the king was her father. Anna knew that the old books and mainly the ones with old runes, which were used for protocol things, were on the higher shelf. Climbing was something natural for her, if she was able to climb out of her bed-chamber window, climbing a shelf was a piece of cake, or so she thought. The problem wasn't the shelf or her ability to climb; it was the statuettes that were over the shelves. The crash of shattering china was loud enough to catch the attention of Gerda, Kai and of course the King. As a consequence, Anna was grounded for a week of being confined in her room. She never learned the runes.

Time passed; they got older, and the exchange of letters and pictures came to an end. Anna reached the age of fifteen convinced that her sister didn't care so much about her and the reason of that indifference was her fault. After all, she was clumsy and eccentric, not the type of sister a future queen could cope with. No more letters, no more knocking on the door, no more invitations to play around, just silence and solitude.

After being focused on her royal duties, Elsa took a break, which chiefly consisted in drinking tea and relaxing for thirteen minutes.

After her coronation, Elsa brought some personal belongings to her office that she kept inside a locked drawer on her desk. She felt in the mood for taking a look at that stuff, so she opened the drawer and started looking at a pack of envelopes. They were letters. A warm smile curved the queen's lips. They were the letters Anna had sent her under the door when they were younger. Elsa started reading them and recalled memories of closed doors, isolation and invitations to build snowmen.

A pounding at the door woke her up from her dream state. It was Anna for sure; after all those years she had learned to recognize the way her sister knocked at the door.

"Elsa, are you in there?" The princess asked behind the door.

"Come in, Anna," the queen invited her to enter.

"What are you doing? Can I join you for tea?" Anna sat down on the chair in front of Elsa's desk without waiting for her sister's reply.

Elsa left the letters on the desk, and smiling at Anna, she poured some tea in the spare cup next to hers.

"Here you are," Elsa said, offering the cup to Anna.

The princess was sipping her tea while looking at the papers spread over the desk.

"Do you remember these?" Elsa asked, holding a couple of letters in her hands.

Anna dropped her jaw and got still and silent for the first time in a very long time.

"Are those…?"

"Yes, your letters."

"But… I thought you had thrown them away…"

"What? Why?"

"I mean, you only replied me with drawings and never told me anything…"

"Oh Anna…"

"I've got all the pictures you sent me. Wanna see them?"

Elsa doubted for a second, her break was coming to an end soon, and she had loads of work to do.

"Come on! Let's go to my room!" Anna was bouncing in the chair and the next moment she was taking Elsa by the hand, and they were running through the corridors. The queen had a mixed expression on her face; she was unsure and elated at the same time. Her work could wait a little bit longer, but her sister… her sister had been waiting for thirteen years…

Once inside the room, Anna went to her vanity and took some papers out of one of the drawers. Then, she sat down on her bed and patting the space next to her, invited Elsa to take a seat too.

Elsa couldn't help but giggle at the sight of her drawings, remembering the nights she spent awake making them.

"I treasured them all this time…" Anna said, looking at them with a mixture of sadness and sweetness.

"Even when I couldn't understand a single rune you wrote…"

"What?!" Elsa exclaimed. "You couldn't read them?"

"Nope. They're old runes! I never paid attention to the Old Norse lessons! I can barely write my name in runes! What's the point in learning an extinct language?"

"Oh Anna… I thought you could look them up. I wrote in runes to encrypt the messages…"

"But all the rune books were mainly at papa's study and I wasn't allowed to go there without permission… not after I broke the sculptures he had on the shelves… while I was climbing on the shelves to reach out the rune books so I could read your letters…"

Elsa began laughing out loud like she hadn't done in years. She remembered so well that incident and all the fuss it had caused.

"Hey! That wasn't funny! Papa was scary when he was angry!"

"I know he was! But I was thankful to you back then, because those sculptures were truly ugly!"

Now was Anna's turn to laugh. Elsa kept staring at her sister fondly still amused by the memories.

"I'll give you a rune book I've got in my bedroom. Be right back."

Anna waited looking at her sister's drawings and blaming herself for having been such a fool not to know how to read those damned runes. Elsa got back carrying an old and heavy book.

"Look them up, it's easy." The queen said, giving the book to Anna.

The princess began with the first picture, the one with the snowman, which resembled Olaf. The inscription was at the bottom of the drawing and with the help of the book, Anna was able to translate it letter by letter.

"I…w…an…t…to…bu..il..d…a…sn…o…w…man…to…o. I want to build a snowman too?!"

Elsa nodded. Anna took the other picture that was full of snowflake patterns.

"I…m…i…ss…you…"

Elsa kept silent.

Then, Anna started reading the third one that had a crocus surrounded by tiny flowers.

"I…l…o…ve…you…sis…"

Now it was Anna's turn to be silent.

"I've been such a fool…"

"Anna…"

"No, Elsa! I was so self-centered writing you silly things about me and I didn't take the time to look the runes up and try to understand their meaning…"

"Anna, you were a kid… you only wanted to chat with someone…"

"No, Elsa. I only wanted to chat with you."

"I was self-centered, too, and selfish. I assumed you would understand and didn't tell you anything else. I was afraid of being caught and if that had happened, we couldn't be in touch anymore. I was afraid to open up to you and hurt you again…"

Anna jumped over Elsa and hugged her. She was sobbing with her face buried in her sister's neck. Elsa hugged her back and started crying too.

"It's never too late," the queen whispered between sobs.

"Uh?"

"Now we can say everything we were keeping all this time."

Still with tears in her eyes, Anna stared at Elsa.

"I missed you a lot Anna," the queen continued. "There wasn't a single day I didn't think about you and how much I wanted to play with you and share everything."

"You weren't mad at me?"

"Anna… how could I be mad at you? I just… I was protecting you and you know why…"

"Soooo, sisters forever?" Anna asked with a sheepish smile on her lips.

"Sisters forever," Elsa asserted. "No more closed doors. No more shutting out. No more letters. Just you and I like in the old times." Elsa added holding Anna's hands.

"Like it always should have been." Anna replied, holding Elsa's hands more tightly.

End


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